Help on which moto to buy!
Hi guys. I am a U.S. Citizen living in Honduras teaching at a bilingual high school. I am looking to buy a motorcycle here very soon and I need some help. I'm not sure what to buy, partially because I cannot find information on the motorcycles down here! I will give you a few examples:
The four motorcycles I am looking at are:
XTZ Yamaha 125
XM Genesis 200
Splorer Shineray 200
GXT Genesis 200
I cannot find information on any of them, I have no idea about specs of any sort besides the cc's of each bike. I have the prices they would sell them to me for, but I do not know if these are good prices either. I will post below in order the prices:
50,231.00 Lempira = $2,392.00 USD
29,672.00 Lempira = $1,412.99 USD
30,740.00 Lempira = $1,463.84 USD
37,619.00 Lempira = $1,791.42 USD
As you all know, cheaper isn't necessarily better. I am looking to take this thing up a mountain every day to work, and eventually my girlfriend will be riding on the back of it when I get used to the mountain roads. I will also be reselling it in about 6 months, which will allow me to hopefully only lose a few hundred dollars in resale value depending on who I sell it to. Please let me know and thanks for welcoming me to the community!
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MJH
If I could find one I would say, but here I can't find anything since I live in a smaller town. On top of that, the only Masesa dealer here won't sell to me since I don't have residency. I'm still waiting on the government for that.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
that is an ass backward country
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MJH
that is an ass backward country
I wish it were different, otherwise I would have bought a Pulsar 200 back in October.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
The Yamaha would probably have the best resale value. However, the XM Genesis 200 is about $1k less, and it would have a more powerful engine, for 2-up riding. Make sure you are mechanically inclined if you get a Chinese bike (no, you don't have to be an expert by any means, but feel confident enough). You will get good advice on repairs/maintenance here on mychinamoto (more worldwide members) and on another site, chinariders.net (more N. American based members).
The advantage is how many Chinese bikes are down there, meaning repair shops are plentiful if you are not confident mechanically, and parts will be easy to come by.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
The Yamaha would probably have the best resale value. However, the XM Genesis 200 is about $1k less, and it would have a more powerful engine, for 2-up riding. Make sure you are mechanically inclined if you get a Chinese bike (no, you don't have to be an expert by any means, but feel confident enough). You will get good advice on repairs/maintenance here on mychinamoto (more worldwide members) and on another site, chinariders.net (more N. American based members).
The advantage is how many Chinese bikes are down there, meaning repair shops are plentiful if you are not confident mechanically, and parts will be easy to come by.
Thanks a ton. I ended up getting the shineray 200-XY and so far it works well. There are some things I am not used to and using the ignition start has proved to be finnicky at best, but I am hoping that I will learn the trade. The engines so far seem simply enough, though I've mostly worked with car engines over the years. I ended up paying the exact price listed in the original post. I will get pictures up sometime.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Shineray is a decent brand, too. The ignition could be due to something like the battery not being fully charged. The shop you purchased the bike from might not have bothered to fully charge up the battery? The bike could have been sitting a while. I happen to have a battery charger which my father gave me several years ago, and it has proven itself invaluable with my bikes (and a couple car batteries, too). If you don't have one, and someone you know will let you borrow one, fully charge the battery up, or take it back to the shop and have them do this for you.
These bikes are simple, straightforward, and since you live where they seen plentiful and available from dealers, if worse comes to worse, you can get it fixed at a shop and/or get parts. I am assuming there should be a warranty of some sort?! Like I said, besides here, join us on chinariders, too. There are a few 'core' members who have helped many a chinabike owner diagnose and repair their bikes, and in short time, too.
My first suggestion of improvement if it didn't come stock is to go with a large front sprocket and small rear sprocket. Many of these bikes used to, and still do, come stock with 56 teeth rear sprockets which are begging for a swap. Otherwise, make sure the shop changed out the shipping 'oil' it came with, or you need to do this. As well, I think change it again at 100 miles or so (there will be several metal shavings in the change, but don't worry, this is natural), and then every 600 miles thereafter. But double check on my suggestion because I might have missed a change interval (I do know you need to dump the oil the bike came with as stock first thing).
Post some photos, too! I always like seeing bikes in 'exotic' locations!
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
Shineray is a decent brand, too. The ignition could be due to something like the battery not being fully charged. The shop you purchased the bike from might not have bothered to fully charge up the battery? The bike could have been sitting a while. I happen to have a battery charger which my father gave me several years ago, and it has proven itself invaluable with my bikes (and a couple car batteries, too). If you don't have one, and someone you know will let you borrow one, fully charge the battery up, or take it back to the shop and have them do this for you.
These bikes are simple, straightforward, and since you live where they seen plentiful and available from dealers, if worse comes to worse, you can get it fixed at a shop and/or get parts. I am assuming there should be a warranty of some sort?! Like I said, besides here, join us on chinariders, too. There are a few 'core' members who have helped many a chinabike owner diagnose and repair their bikes, and in short time, too.
My first suggestion of improvement if it didn't come stock is to go with a large front sprocket and small rear sprocket. Many of these bikes used to, and still do, come stock with 56 teeth rear sprockets which are begging for a swap. Otherwise, make sure the shop changed out the shipping 'oil' it came with, or you need to do this. As well, I think change it again at 100 miles or so (there will be several metal shavings in the change, but don't worry, this is natural), and then every 600 miles thereafter. But double check on my suggestion because I might have missed a change interval (I do know you need to dump the oil the bike came with as stock first thing).
Post some photos, too! I always like seeing bikes in 'exotic' locations!
I will have to see how it goes and I have never used the kick start on the Xplorer so we will see if it starts up right away then. As it is my first bike, there is a lot that I do not know about it, or any maintenance for sure. The shop I bought it from said that everything was in order when I bought it, and I needed to return at 500km for them to do the change on the oil.
There is a 2 year 12km warranty on it I believe, which makes my life a lot better, especially if I am not going to be driving it for that long! Either way if I continue to have issues I will go see them. I will start asking about the need to know information regarding my bike. As I said, I am familiar with car motors but not bike motors. I have already had some issues but I believe some were on my end. Take for example the fact that I had the engine die and couldn't figure out why. Turned out to simply be I was using the reserves and not the actual tank.
As for the sprockets I wouldn't know where to get myself a set for the bike, though I could ask around or double check their original conditions and such. The other concern for me is I have no tools here, but I probably can go steal the missionaries garage and work if I need to.
Also, any advice on becoming proficient in off-roading? I would like to slowly get used to taking the bike more and more difficult places.
Here is a picture of after its first kilometer
http://i62.tinypic.com/2rykea8.jpg
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Hey guys, I know that this is an old thread of mine, but I've had my moto for awhile and I now have run into issues. About 2 weeks ago it began to leak some oil. I took it in and got it fixed. It was simply a bad drain plug. About the same time it began to be difficult to start up in the morning. It is a four stroke single cylinder 200cc engine. I've done all the normal routine. I put the choke on, put it into neutral, start it, let the choke halfway out and once it warms up I turn the choke fully off. After starting it, the motorcycle warms up. However, my issue has been that the engine will start fine with the choke on, and then be very finicky with the gas as I let the choke halfway out, and begin to die. If I let the choke all the way open, it goes kaput pretty quick. Then it sucks to get started again.
Well, after awhile of this, the motorcycle has started to turn off while driving it, usually only when I have the clutch it. I have had no engine trouble in terms of hitting anything so I am wondering what the issue is. What will happen is I can be driving along with enough gas for another 50km at least, and next thing you know, usually when downhill and applying no gas with the clutch it, the engine will just go off. I will only notice because I need to accelerate and then I got nothing. I have to pull over and get it going again, which typically is very tricky after it turns off. A lot of choking it, waiting, then opening it up and hoping it doesn't die again. I rode it this morning and had the same issue, it turned off 6 times in 40 km! Now, here is the kicker (and the reason that I believe it to be a gas or oxygenation issue), when I take the cap off the tank and then go to start the motorcycle, it turns on almost immediately after turning off while I was driving it! Anybody have ideas?
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Start with the spark plug. It is arguably the easiest thing to check. They often get fouled. You can clean it off, but I have always simply paid the few bucks, gapped it, and thrown a new one on the bike. Next up would be the CDI, which on my enduro is under the seat. It is a module that can be changed easily, too (like how easy the spark plug is). Once you determine that it is not either of those two, then it could be a carb issue. My suggestion is to take it to the dealer and use your warranty. Make sure you ask about the spark plug (if it is fouled, it will be very black) and the CDI so they at least think you know what you are talking about in order that they don't try to take advantage of you. You can't really check the CDI yourself unless you buy a spare one (they are not expensive) to see if that is the issue (or if a friend has a similar bike to exchange the CDI for a while), so that one is harder to diagnose without a spare one nearby, but the spark plug is very straight forward provided you have the spark plug tool. Just be careful taking the plug lead off so you don't pull the wire apart.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
olesoncs
Here is a picture of after its first kilometer
I never saw the photo back in January--good looking ride! Just remember, since you saved so much over the Yamaha, if it costs a few bucks to repair, you are still ahead! That is the beauty of Chinese bikes. Cheap and 'disposable' or giveaway as one member mentioned how he and his son are going to Zambia in Africa for a several days riding through the country, and then he is donating those bikes to an aid organization (that is the real reason for the purchase, but he will get some riding in!)
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
I never saw the photo back in January--good looking ride! Just remember, since you saved so much over the Yamaha, if it costs a few bucks to repair, you are still ahead! That is the beauty of Chinese bikes. Cheap and 'disposable' or giveaway as one member mentioned how he and his son are going to Zambia in Africa for a several days riding through the country, and then he is donating those bikes to an aid organization (that is the real reason for the purchase, but he will get some riding in!)
Yeah, I posted the same question in January in a different forum. People said the Yamaha. Then I posted this same issue and got ripped by a guy who pointed out the Yamaha is different. True. It is. However, so far I have needed two repairs. It is completely covered by my guarantee, so I haven't paid a cent, or even less, a lempira cent (the smallest amount of our currency here). I will most likely leave your suggestions to the mechanic, but I will make the suggestions where to check first. I wish I had a set of basic tools here. I can always borrow the missionaries tools but it would complicate some things.
Also, I think it is a pretty good looking ride. The only thing I wish was different is color, I'm more of a black or silver guy, but red wasn't a bad choice either as red and white were my college colors. Hopefully we can just get this bike reliable on the road before the next two weeks are up so that I can drive to El Salvador for spring break.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Sorry about your lack of tools! A basic socket set (with spark plug removal tool) should be fairly low cost. Any word from the mechanics?
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
Sorry about your lack of tools! A basic socket set (with spark plug removal tool) should be fairly low cost. Any word from the mechanics?
The mechanic I took it to is now no longer authorized for the work since the motorcycle is like new. The vendor is taking it to a bigger city nearby on Friday to a manufacturer mechanic. I get to ride it in the meantime. It should be only gone on Friday.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Hey guys, I wanted to say thanks. I got the motorcycle back today, it runs and breathes like a charm now. The guy who fixed it (whoever it may be) agreed with you all. It was an airflow issue to the fuel tank or the delivery system. Somewhere the engine couldn't get the right mixture. It got fixed and I am happy again. Stay tuned to see if I have more issues.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Good to read that! When are you taking your trip?
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
Good to read that! When are you taking your trip?
The hope is in a week to drive in the morning to El Salvador. Be there by lunch, find a small hotel to stay at. Drive back home the next day. It shows as a 3 hour drive but here I am expecting 5 with the roads and the police stops.
Re: Help on which moto to buy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
culcune
Good to read that! When are you taking your trip?
The hope is in a week to drive in the morning to El Salvador. Be there by lunch, find a small hotel to stay at. Drive back home the next day. It shows as a 3 hour drive but here I am expecting 5 with the roads and the police stops.
